Does the rain, rain go away song really work?
The British did a study on this back in the late 40’s – and there is a “tendency for shorter periods of precipitation” if a group of 12 or more people take up the chant” Rain-rain go away – etc”, and maintain that through the entire period of the event. The former Soviet Union did a similar study in the 1960’s with much the same result….however they noted that the expenditures of manpower and resources was not worth for what little benefit they provided in shorting the duration of the rain shower. Interestingly – both studies proved that playing recordings of people chanting the song had NO AFFECT on any rainfall event….and the Soviet study concluded that the clouds themselves must have some way of knowing the difference between recorded and live performances. So yes – it really works….but it’s just not worth the effort to do in most cases.
